After the upper portion of the body has been injected with about half a gallon of the embalming liquid, the nozzle of the injector must be reversed and the lower parts injected in a similar manner with about the same amount of liquid; the injection must then be stopped for the space of about three hours, and all the blood which may have escaped from the opening made in the vena cava into the cavity of the intestines must be sponged out as it fills up the space left.
The mode of injecting is also of extreme importance. The injection should be done slowly and steadily, as a strong, sudden forcing up of the liquid into the arteries might occasion a rupture of their walls should some point be weakened from some cause arising from previous sickness, or from lesions as described in a previous chapter.
The injection may then be renewed and more liquid be injected, until a sufficient quantity has been used. As there are no rules laid down for the amount of liquid to be injected, it is left altogether to the discrimination and good judgment of the operator.
The bodies of children and old persons will require less liquid than adults up to the age of forty. The bodies of persons killed by accident or some sudden cause, will require a larger amount of liquid than those of persons who are emaciated by long illness, as, for instance, consumption.
After the arterial and venous system have been thus completely injected, the intestines must be replaced in the abdominal cavity.
The brains must next be removed, and this operation is one which requires extreme caution, as will be seen by the following explanation of the process.
The body is turned on the right side, and, by means of a trephine, a round hole is cut into the back of the skull, about two inches above the cerebellum; the piece of bone thus taken out is preserved so as to be replaced into the opening after the operation is finished. Previous to cutting through the skull, a small incision in the shape of a cross, about two inches in length, each way, must be cut in the skin. The object of this is to leave the bone denuded after the skin has been detached from the bone, and also to bring the parts together by sewing, after the brain has been removed.
Through the opening thus made in the skull, the brain, or the portion of it which can be reached, is easily removed by means of a small, slender spoon, with a long handle, made for the purpose. The cavity thus made in the head is to be filled with the following:
Take two gallons or more of water, and saturate with alum, as much as it will dissolve; then mix with plaster of paris to the consistency of very thin paste, and fill the cavity of the brain; some cotton may then be introduced to keep the mixture inside; the round piece of bone cut from the skull is then replaced, the flaps of the cut in the skin brought together and neatly sewed up; if this operation is carefully performed, the cuts thus made cannot be perceived under the hair.
Great caution should be exercised while removing the brain, in not wounding any of the veins and arteries which are inside that part of the skull, and with a little care this can be easily avoided.